Beth Portesi - Lead Executive Assistant at Fivetran

Beth · 0:00

Hi, I'm Beth Portesi, and one of my favorite leadership quotes is, leadership is not about being the best, it's about making everyone else better.

Speaker 3 · 0:14

The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.

Jeremy · 0:30

Calling all Executive Assistants, are you looking for a way to elevate your skills or earn that promotion you've been eyeing? Nova Chief of Staff's Online Certification Course provides you with the knowledge and confidence you need to stand out on the job. Whether you want to land your dream position or level up in your current role, Nova's self-paced course gives you hands-on practice doing what Chiefs of Staff do every day. Visit leaderassistant.com/nova to learn more and secure your spot. That's leaderassistant.com/nova. Hey, friends, welcome to The Leader Assistant Podcast. It's your host, Jeremy Burrows, and it's episode 269. You can check out the show notes at leaderassistant.com/269. leaderassistant.com/269 to check out the links and the bio and all the fun things related to this episode. And speaking of this episode, my special guest is Beth Portesi. Beth is Lead Executive Assistant at Fivetran. Is that correct, Beth?

Beth · 1:43

Yep.

Jeremy · 1:45

So welcome to the show. Tell us what part of the world you're in and we'll get started.

Beth · 1:51

Sure. Sounds good. Thanks so much for having me on, Jeremy. I love your book and I once gifted it to all of the EAs at our company for Christmas. Thanks for the work you're doing and the way you advocate for our role. I am located in southern Oregon, originally from the Bay Area in California.

Jeremy · 2:09

And then what's maybe your favorite thing to do when you're not working?

Beth · 2:13

My favorite thing to do when I'm not working? Well, my husband and I own a small scale organic vegetable farm. So he runs it as kind of his day-to-day full-time job, but I help when I can and I go to the market with him every Saturday during the season.

Jeremy · 2:28

Wow, that's awesome. We have had some rough, rough stretch trying to garden in our backyard. And thankfully, the one thing that has worked out is my favorite food in the world, and that's strawberries. And so we, oh, the best. Yes, we tried like tomatoes and some other stuff and we kept killing them and they just wasn't working, but the strawberries were going well. And then the strawberries would spread to the rest of the garden bed. And then we're like, well, let's just, let's just do more strawberries. And then the next year, let's do more strawberries. So now this coming year, the whole bed is basically all strawberries.

Beth · 3:03

Oh, that's amazing.

Jeremy · 3:04

And so I'm like, get the whipped cream, get the shortcake. Let's have a good time.

Beth · 3:10

If you can get to them before the birds, you're doing great.

Jeremy · 3:13

Yeah, it's, oh yeah, we get, I get out there. I'm like, I'll help garden if there's strawberries. Good deal. Well, thanks for being on the show. How did you end up getting into the executive assistant role?

Beth · 3:27

Yeah, it's kind of an interesting start. I always loved getting things done, and I especially loved getting things done for other people. So I found a job as an admin assistant in 2016 for a small nonprofit. I got paid $10 an hour there. Eventually, I was earning $12 an hour. I adored the people that I worked for and their mission, but I knew it wasn't enough to support myself at the time. So I got a second job as an event bartender, and I was 25. So I was still kind of had this itch to travel and experience the world. So I saved my tips from my event bartending job, and I saved up for a trip to Southeast Asia. I'd planned to take a few weeks off in order to take this trip, but as I got closer to the trip, I started having discussions with my bosses at the nonprofit about the pay kind of being a hurdle for me. And they asked me what kind of pay I needed. And truthfully, I didn't even have a number. So they said, well, go home, figure it out, get a number and come back to us. And I did. And I realized I needed $18 an hour. And that made me really nervous to even say that number out loud because it was eye-opening for me and it was wildly uncomfortable to have a conversation about compensation with my bosses at the time and to ask for what I needed as a living wage. But to no fault of the nonprofit, they were not in a position to pay me exactly what I needed at the time. And so they agreed, well, it'd probably be best if I found a job that could give me that. And so we have a great relationship. We still do to this day. But yeah, instead of taking that few weeks off for my trip that I had saved up for to Southeast Asia, I decided I'd have to look for a job when I got back. And so I took the trip. And while we were in Bali, we got an opportunity to live on a property and care for a few animals in exchange for a place to stay. But the only catch was, is she wanted us to commit to three months there. And I didn't have three months of funds to support staying there, though. That long. And my flight home was the next day. So if I didn't take my flight home, I knew I wasn't going to have enough money to pay for another flight until I made the money, which means I was going to have to get a job while I was in Bali. And I don't typically shy away from like opportunities or get nervous easily. But this was a moment in my life that I felt truly uncomfortable because I was taking a risk. I did not have the money, but it's something I felt like I needed to stay and I needed to do. So we did. We committed to staying. And I didn't take my flight home. And now I had this big task in front of me of finding a remote job. And keep in mind, this is four years before COVID. So this is 2016. Working remotely was much less common occurrence because, you know, it just wasn't as common. And yeah, so I told myself I was going to spend every single day looking for a job for at least $18 an hour. And I wouldn't go any lower than that because that's what I knew I now needed. And I applied all day, every single day. And I think it took me about three months until I finally got my first yes. So that's kind of how I got started.

Jeremy · 6:48

And that was was that the remote assistant?

Beth · 6:53

Yeah, I got a job as a remote virtual assistant.

Jeremy · 6:59

So you were doing remote virtual assistant stuff. Well, before we talk about kind of the next step in your journey in the next path or career transition, what may be something you learned working remotely and some tips that you share with those that maybe they're looking for remote work, or maybe they're just working remotely and they want some good work from home tips? Sure.

Beth · 7:30

I think maybe more important than like working remotely is actually getting a remote job. Like I mentioned, I spent all day every day applying. I used my $150 Chromebook that I got from Walmart to apply to these jobs. I submitted hundreds of applications. I would wake up at three or four in the morning just to take interviews across time zones. And like I mentioned, I just I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong and why I couldn't get to a yes. So I did a test. I don't know if this is like somewhat unethical, but I created a job posting for the exact type of role that I was looking for as an assistant. And I watched the applications come in. And every applicant seemed great. And they were experienced and they were qualified and they were well spoken. But they all blended together. And then I realized what I was doing wrong was I was blending in just like everyone else. So I asked myself, like, why would someone give me a job over these other amazing candidates? And I had to have kind of like a heart to heart conversation with myself about what makes me different? Why should I get the job over these other people? And the only answer that I could come up with was me, like the personal side of me. That's the only thing that makes me different. And the side of me that you can't get by reading a resume or a cover letter. So I created a short intro video, like super short. And I sent that in with my applications. And boom, I got my first yes. That's how I got it. And I didn't just get one. I got four of them. And that was all within probably two weeks. And I had been applying for months. So, yeah, that's I think that's when it became when it rains, it pours moment. And just one of the biggest takeaways is learning that you are your differentiator.

Jeremy · 9:20

So what was in the video?

Beth · 9:22

The video was just me saying like it was it was an honesty video. So I first started with the video kind of like I'm Beth. I have this many years experience. Here's like what I have experience with. But even watching those, I just felt so like kind of like repulsed by like how boilerplate it felt. So I was like, you know what? I'm going to scrap this and I'm just going to be totally myself. And I was and I just said, hey, I'm living in Bali. I have this really like weird, unique opportunity where I'm staying somewhere in exchange for housing. You know, I have this experience, you know, I want to live a life that I love, but also do great work. And this is how I counterbalance my time. And so that's kind of like the overview that I gave of myself, the situation I was in at the time and what I was looking for.

Jeremy · 10:07

You're hired.

Beth · 10:10

And just it resonated. Some lady was like, hey, my mom used to go to Bali when we were younger. And so it's just you immediately have some kind of personal connection with some people.

Jeremy · 10:20

Yeah, that's amazing.

Beth · 10:22

Yeah.

Jeremy · 10:23

Cool. Well, so then as you got going into that, was that the birth, I'm assuming, of Next Level VA?

Beth · 10:33

It kind of slowly. So as I mentioned, I got quite a few more clients over time. I was getting a lot of referrals and I wasn't just selling my services as an independent contractor. I realized that I was spending my time creating time for busy people. But eventually I got to the point where I didn't have as much time anymore, right? Because now I'm getting all these referrals and I've got all this work. So I wanted to do something else and I wanted to be able to share this experience with other women and teach them, hey, if you're uncomfortable having conversations around compensation, if you are not sure how to differentiate yourself or like get your foot in the door, it's something that I wanted to help with. So that's kind of what launched Next Level VA, which stands for Next Level Virtual Assistant, where I basically wanted to teach other women how to do this.

Jeremy · 11:32

So then, you know, I asked about the guests that I have on the show. I asked what topics they'd like to discuss. And one of them you mentioned was the value of what assistants and administrative professionals are selling. And you mentioned time specifically. So you talked about that, too. You realized how you're saving, you're spending your time saving these executives' time.

Beth · 11:56

Yes.

Jeremy · 11:56

So talk a little bit about that and just kind of the value of what we bring to the table.

Beth · 12:02

Sure, absolutely. In our roles, we're always going to be asked to do a variety of things, right? And you can't really nail down what it is. And he's like, what do you do? You know, a better question is like, what don't we do? Right. But the main overarching thing that we're doing is we are creating time for people that don't really have enough of it or that need more of it. And so the things that we do are contributing to that. And interestingly enough, it kind of goes both ways. So same for ourselves. We also have to evaluate, like, what do we value our own time at? Like, what is it worth getting paid to spend our time on, you know, when we're creating this time for these executives? So as I worked as an independent contractor, the more time, the less time I had to offer to clients, I realized it was worth more. And so I did something called, I implemented demand-based increases. So every time I got a referral or a new client, I would increase my rate by $5 for each new client, $5 an hour. And that might sound like a big jump to some people who are kind of in a setting as an employee, where you have to wait to have these conversations like during an annual review. But as an independent contractor, you get to kind of set your rate, which was really helpful in getting comfortable having those conversations around what you offer and what that's worth.

Jeremy · 13:30

I love that strategy. I kind of did something similar. I didn't have as clever of a catchy way to phrase to call it. But I basically was like, you know, I'm going to charge for my speaking and coaching. And then as I started to get more and more requests, I still have a day job. I still have kids and I've got all this stuff going on. I'm like, all right, I don't want to do more coaching calls or more speaking engagements necessarily, but maybe I can charge more, do the same amount of engagements, but charge more so that it kind of weeds out some of them. And then, you know, so yeah, I just would raise my coaching rate. I raise my speaking fee and get more and more interest. I'm getting overwhelmed with all these requests. Raise my price again, you know, and be OK with them with getting a lot of no's and a lot of no. We don't have that budget and whatever and just moving on.

Beth · 14:25

Yeah, and it's a great way to find your perfect client.

Jeremy · 14:28

Yeah, exactly. So then, OK, so talk to us about your transition then from independent contractor to an employee, because right now you're an employee. Is that right? At Fivetran?

Beth · 14:44

Yeah, that's right. So I guess backtracking a little bit about Next Level VA, I think one of the things that I might have left out was that I wanted to create this opportunity to share with other women, but I also knew there was a very practical side of things of being an assistant, like a skill set that you needed to have and be able to offer in order to kind of move your way up and get these yeses and get these referrals. So similar to kind of your approach in teaching assistants to be leaders, my approach for Next Level VA was to help develop a skill set for people who wanted to provide next level service to executives. And kind of similar to the whole discovery process of what I was doing wrong when I was first looking for a job, I had to ask myself, like, what am I doing that's different from a skill side of things? And is this something inherent to me or is it something I can teach to others? And the answer was, I'm not special. And the way that I work can be broken down into practices and steps. And so I kind of coined the term, like, six-figure habits. And this is kind of how I describe the skill set that enabled me to go from getting paid that $10 an hour, like, up to six figures in a very short amount of time. But yeah, so I think that's kind of what led Next Level VA onto its path. But in that time, I feel like I kind of I found my executive, like the person that I wanted to assist for the long term.

Jeremy · 16:17

So then your what are kind of a few of those practically those six-figure habits?

Speaker 2 · 16:29

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Beth · 17:05

Sure. One of, I think, the biggest ones I picked up when I was 20 years old, I was living in Boston and working at the Ritz Carlton as a line cook. And when we went to our orientation training, we had filled out a sheet that asked us all of these personal questions. And one of them was, what is your favorite food? And I'm a sucker for sweets, so I put tiramisu. And later on, we broke for lunch and I got back to my desk and there was a tiramisu sitting on my desk. And it said, welcome to the Ritz Carlton, Beth. And that totally knocked my socks off in a way that I had never forgot. And so it was, they had told us this is the level of service that like we provide to our guests. And that kind of inspired me to incorporate that into the level of service I provide to my executives. So my first six-figure habit is called the Ritz treatment. I like to give my executives the Ritz treatment. And, you know, people don't pay the Ritz Carlson because they have the biggest and the nicest rooms. Like, sure, they're nice, but people are paying for the service. And I think that service is greater than anything else. And the same goes for assistance. The service we provide is more important than the years of experience or the credentials that we might have.

Jeremy · 18:25

Love it. So what what's maybe an example of the Ritz experience or the Ritz? What do you call it?

Beth · 18:33

The Ritz treatment?

Jeremy · 18:35

Treatment. Treatment. What's an example of the Ritz treatment throughout your career that you've, you know, gifted or used?

Beth · 18:44

Sure. I think a few ways you can provide the Ritz treatment as an assistant is number one, just recording your executive's preferences, like even the smallest details. And I think this probably comes as second nature to a lot of very seasoned executive assistants. I could go, yeah, like, I got to know, like, where their favorite spot to sit on the plane is. But I like to record all of the details. Like, if I notice that they're always drinking or eating a certain thing, I keep that in mind so that I don't have to ask them when I go to the office. Or when I go to order their lunch, like, I know exactly what they want and anticipating their needs that way. And they have another term at The Ritz called Surprise and Delight. So I also like to use those details to surprise and delight them. Like, if it's their birthday, I know exactly what to send them because I've spent the time getting to know them. And then lastly, you know, at The Ritz, like, you kind of execute everything, like, all the way to the next level. And that's what I like to do as an assistant. So if there's any tasks that I'm given, I always try to take it as far as I possibly can and execute it as far as I can until I, you know, hand it back to them or I need their input on something.

Jeremy · 19:53

Nice. So what's maybe one thing you've learned? I'm assuming Fivetran is a fairly large company. I mean, I'm assuming there are other assistants at the organization.

Beth · 20:06

Yes, there are. I think we have seven total today.

Jeremy · 20:09

Okay. So what's it like working with a team of assistants?

Beth · 20:14

It's really great. I mean, the thing is, is that you're constantly learning. So even me, somebody who has had the opportunity to train and work with other assistants, I think I learned the most just by working with my peers at Fivetran. I pick up a lot of great practices from them. And it's really amazing because the executive assistant role, it really draws in a certain type of individual. And when you have a lot of them, I feel like it can be a force to reckon with. Like these are people that get stuff done. So it's great to have a resource with my peers.

Jeremy · 20:49

And then do you, is there an office in your town or do you work remotely for Fivetran?

Beth · 20:56

I work remotely. We do have locations worldwide. But I am not in office.

Jeremy · 21:02

Nice. Is there, are your executive, is your executive in office? Is your executive remote or kind of hybrid?

Beth · 21:11

My executive is hybrid. So kind of rewinding just a little bit, you had asked about the transition from an independent contractor to an employee. I had met this leader, this executive, and we just jived so well. Like it was just, you know, the type of leader that he was really inspired me. And it also made me feel safe. And I'm like, this is the type of person I want to assist for life. Like this is an awesome individual. And I feel like it's like a once in a lifetime CEO. And I found my once in a lifetime CEO that I could assist. He's really great at what he does. So great that the company that he had worked towards building got acquired by Fivetran. So he transitioned, we merged companies and he moved into more of like a board president role. And then I started assisting the general counsel at Fivetran. So my for life CEO, he's kind of on vacation right now, enjoying all of the work and all of the time that he's put into his career for the last 25 years. So now the executive I support at Fivetran, she's based in Denver. So it's a hybrid role.

Jeremy · 22:27

Any other like just in general, it could be your current role. It could be one of the clients that you supported. You know, any interesting or funny or crazy stories or, you know, Spider-Man saving the day kind of things with your job. Kind of putting you on the spot, but you know, I'm sure you had some variety of clients if you were working with as an independent contractor.

Beth · 22:57

This is one of those moments, Jeremy, where I'm like, don't say too much. I don't want to tell any of my stories because no names, no company names, you know, just like general vague story. Oh, man, a general vague story. Oh, my goodness. Okay, I can tell you this one and this is pretty bad. Oh, man. Okay. So I had this client one time, very short lived. This person was an executive and I would say was having some personal issues in their personal life. And it's one of those moments where, you know, as an EA, like you get asked to do a lot of things, you know, and it's like, where kind of where do you draw the line sometimes? And this is, I think, one of the only times in my life where I had to draw a line. But this person asked me, they were suspicious of their partner cheating on them. And so they had taken like a secret audio recording of a conversation their partner was having and they wanted me to like subcontract out this audio recording to somebody to like dissect it and find out what was being said in the recording. And I just felt like, you know what? Like, I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze on this one. And I feel like just personally, I have to draw the line here. Yeah.

Jeremy · 24:23

It's like, yeah, you want to you want to really want to do something with that? You can do it yourself.

Beth · 24:28

Exactly.

Jeremy · 24:31

Awesome. Well, thanks so much for joining me on the show. It's been great chatting with you. Is there anything that you would put on a billboard or maybe put it on a 30-second Super Bowl ad that was, you know, a little message to assistants of the world? What would you what would you put on a billboard or put in a Super Bowl ad?

Beth · 25:00

Well, if I was making a Super Bowl ad, I sure would have put a lot more time into it than this. But I guess just in summary of kind of what we talked about, I think assistants, differentiate yourselves. You know, a lot of companies are going through layoffs right now. And if you're applying to jobs, you know, like a mad person, differentiate yourself, stand out, send in a video with your resume. Let them get to know you, who you truly are. And don't be afraid to be who you are. Because the second you start sounding like everyone else, you sound like everyone else. So be yourself and the right client, the right executive, the right person will find you and connect with you. Don't be afraid to ask for what you need as far as a living wage and get comfortable around conversations, around compensation. Starting as an independent contractor could be a really good way to do that if you're having trouble going the W-2 or employee route. And then above all else, just really invest in your skill set. You know, provide next level service to your executives and that'll get you really far.

Jeremy · 26:08

Well said, well said. Thanks for sharing. And speaking of next level, what's the best way for, or what's maybe the number one thing you do for, like if those are listening and they're like, oh, this next level VA sounds interesting. What's maybe the top use case for how you help VAs? Sure.

Beth · 26:32

I think the top use case would be coaching, one-on-one coaching. But in full transparency, next level VA has kind of taken a backseat while I focus on my full-time role as an employee. So it's more of a one-off thing. But if you want to reach me, it's beth at nextlevelva.com.

Jeremy · 26:50

Perfect. And I'll put the link in the show notes. And as well as your LinkedIn, if that's all right, people want to reach out and connect with you on LinkedIn. And yeah, thanks again for being on the show. Best of luck to you in your career. And it sounds like you're in a good spot right now. And, you know, when you find... I can relate to what you're saying about, you know, you found this executive that's like the for-life executive. My current executive is awesome. And I'm like... People are like, oh, why don't you go do your side stuff full time? Or why don't you go take this higher paying job at the San Francisco tech company? And I'm just like, you don't understand. My executive is awesome.

Beth · 27:33

You can't put a price tag on that. You really can't.

Jeremy · 27:35

Yeah, it's like, once you find that fit, it's really hard to think about changing and trying a different fit.

Beth · 27:46

Well, thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate your time.

Jeremy · 27:50

Thank you, Beth. Appreciate it.

Speaker 3 · 28:01

Please review on Apple Podcasts.

Beth · 28:10

goburrows.com.